iPhone 5S

The iPhone 5s has been available for several months now inside the United States, and here near the end of November of 2013 we're seeing the first push of an unlocked, off-contract iteration of the smartphone. This device has been available off-contract inside the USA previous to today, but until now we've not seen the fully SIM-free iteration of the device.

There's a new set of accessories catching steam this week by the name of Switchback Cases, made to be interchangeable via their back panel whenever the user needs. This accessory works with a single case with a collection of what are called "Switchbacks". Each different Switchback has its own purpose, and packs are sold with several Switchbacks for event-switching use.

This week the folks behind the app Moves have announced the creation of “Moves 2.0”, the next in a line of apps that makes direct use of the iPhone 5s’s M7 motion coprocessor. This app is - a its simplest - an activity tracker. What you’ll be able to do with this second edition of the app is track walking, cycling, and running with as small a drain on the iPhone’s battery as possible.

Back in May, we mentioned that Apple was looking to change up how it services customer devices under AppleCare warranty. Traditionally Apple has simply replaced a lot of iPhone models if damaged with a new device. As a way to reduce costs, Apple announced it will have employees at its Genius Bar repair items. Word has surfaced that Apple stores will soon be getting the ability to repair iPhone 5S and 5C screens along with other parts. Apple previously offered some repair services for the iPhone 5.

The iPhone 5s (and to a degree, the iPhone 5c) is still a hot item, even if the newly launched iPad Air is currently getting all the attention. For those who want to grab one of the new iPhones but don't want to take on the financial burden on a big-four carrier contract, the smartphone is arriving at another prepaid budget wireless carrier -- Boost Mobile. Though there's still a week of waiting left, the pricing has been announced.

There's a device out there in the wild this week called Neurocam, working with an iPhone, a mirror, and a brainwave reader to take photos whenever you show interest in what you're looking at. The design of this product uses a rather simple setup that has the sensor set off an iPhone camera's shutter, sitting on a head mount that uses a mirror so the iPhone can sit flat against the user's head. Look simple enough to you?

There's a conspiracy theory appearing in print this week summoning up the suggestion that Apple purposefully creates products that become obsolete over time. The very idea that such an article exists - here in 2013, no less - but that it only targets one single company as such makes it clear: someone didn't do their homework. Claims against Apple specifically are made by the NYTimes in an article called "Why Apple wants to bust your iPhone" in its online edition and "Cracking the Apple Trap" in print.

Apple's 4th quarter earnings report here in 2013 had mention of the best of said quarters for iPhones sold in the history of the company - but even that didn't sway one user from asking Apple CEO Tim Cook what the benefits were for the newest set of features for the iPhone 5s over the previous generation. The question itself centered on the iPhone 5s' A7 chip, the motion coprocessor, and the new Touch ID fingerprint sensor, inquiring what Apple had to say to investors that simply did not see the benefit in these features in the short run.

Apple announced today it sold 33.8 million iPhones in fiscal 4Q 2013, which is a record for the quarter in any year; last year it sold 26.9 million iPhones in the same quarter. Most impressive, however, is this figure: Apple sold a record 150 million iPhones in the fiscal year on the whole, up 25 million (16.7%) from 2012, and the company has now sold 421.3 million smartphones in total.

This afternoon you'll be finding a whole lot of zombie cut-downs in the wild as the folks at MadFinger Games release their second-generation first-person zombie shooter Dead Trigger 2. This game is appearing on the app stores for both iOS for iPhones and iPads as well as Android for devices of all sizes either immediately or later today. We got an early look at this game with the first review of NVIDIA SHIELD earlier this year.